Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and an apparatus for operating a reel-to-reel system of a storage device.
In “Modeling and Control System Design of Reel-to-Reel Tape Drives”, by Shiba P. Panda and Andrew P. Engelmann, Proceedings of the American Control Conference (May 8-10, 2002), tape drives are disclosed in data measurement and computer systems to be used as backup drives and instrument recorders. A tape drive comprises, for example, a supply reel, a take-up reel, a tape guidance system and a read/write head. Each reel is controlled through its own DC brushless motor and currents of the reels makeup the system inputs. The tape drive is controlled via a developed model of the tape drive system.
The IEEE document “Controller Development for a Prototype High-Speed Low-Tension Tape Transport” by Priyadarshee D. Mathur and William C. Messner, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Vol. 6, No. 4 (July 1998) describes that increasing storage densities on tape requires reduction of the magnetic coating thickness and very thin substrates are required to pack more tape in a given volume. High performance tape drives therefore must rely on high-speed and low-tension tape transports for ultra-thin media. In this context, regulation of tape speed and tape tension by controlling a torque applied to the supply reel and take-up reel is disclosed. Each reel is directly driven by a motor, and no capstan is used.